SAINT THÉRÈSE OF THE CHILD JESUS AND THE HOLY FACE
IS PROCLAIMED A DOCTOR OF THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH

1. THE SCIENCE OF DIVINE LOVE, which the Father of mercies pours out through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit, is a gift granted to the little and the humble so that they may know and proclaim the secrets of the kingdom, hidden from the learned and the wise; for this reason Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit, praising the Father who graciously willed it so (cf. Lk 10:21-22; Mt 11:25-26).

Mother Church also rejoices in noting that throughout history the Lord has continued to reveal himself to the little and the humble, enabling his chosen ones, through the Spirit who "searches everything, even the depths of God" (1 Cor 2:10), to speak of the gifts "bestowed on us by God... in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths in spiritual language" (1 Cor 2:12,13). In this way the Holy Spirit guides the Church into the whole truth, endowing her with various gifts, adorning her with his fruits, rejuvenating her with the power of the Gospel and enabling her to discern the signs of the times in order to respond ever more fully to the will of God (cf. Lumen gentium, nn. 4, 12; Gaudium et spes, n. 4).

Shining brightly among the little ones to whom the secrets of the kingdom were revealed in a most special way is Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, a professed nun of the Order of Discalced Carmelites, the 100th anniversary of whose entry into the heavenly homeland occurs this year.

During her life Thérèse discovered "new lights, hidden and mysterious meanings" (Ms A, 83v) and received from the divine Teacher that "science of love" which she then expressed with particular originality in her writings (cf. Ms B, 1r). This science is the luminous expression of her knowledge of the mystery of the kingdom and of her personal experience of grace. It can be considered a special charism of Gospel wisdom which Thérèse, like other saints and teachers of faith, attained in prayer (cf. Ms C, 36r·).

2. The reception given to the example of her life and Gospel teaching in our century was quick, universal and constant. As if in imitation of her precocious spiritual maturity, her holiness was recognized by the Church in the space of a few years. In fact, on 10 June 1914 Pius X signed the decree introducing her cause of beatification; on 14 August 1921 Benedict XV declared the heroic virtues of the Servant of God, giving an address for the occasion on the way of spiritual childhood; and Pius XI proclaimed her blessed on 29 April 1923. Shortly afterwards, on 17 May 1925, the same Pope canonized her before an immense crowd in St Peter's Basilica, highlighting the splendour of her virtues and the originality of her doctrine. Two years later, on 14 December 1927, in response to the petition of many missionary Bishops, he proclaimed her patron of the missions along with St Francis Xavier.

Beginning with these acts of recognition, the spiritual radiance of Thérèse of the Child Jesus increased in the Church and spread throughout the world. Many institutes of consecrated life and ecclesial movements, especially in the young Churches, chose her as their patron and teacher, taking their inspiration from her spiritual doctrine. Her message, often summarized in the so-called "little way", which is nothing other that the Gospel way of holiness for all, was studied by theologians and experts in spirituality. Cathedrals, basilicas, shrines and churches throughout the world were built and dedicated to the Lord under the patronage of the Saint of Lisieux. The Catholic Church venerates her in the various Eastern and Western rites. Many of the faithful have been able to experience the power of her intercession. Many of those called to the priestly ministry or the consecrated life, especially in the missions and the cloister, attribute the divine grace of their vocation to her intercession and example.

3. The Pastors of the Church, beginning with my predecessors, the Supreme Pontiffs of this century, who held up her holiness as an example for all, also stressed that Thérèse is a teacher of the spiritual life with a doctrine both spiritual and profound, which she drew from the Gospel sources under the guidance of the divine Teacher and then imparted to her brothers and sisters in the Church with the greatest effectiveness (cf. Ms B, 2v-3).

This spiritual doctrine has been passed on to us primarily by her autobiography which, taken from three manuscripts she wrote in the last years of her life and published a year after her death with the title Histoire d'une âme (Lisieux 1898), has aroused an extraordinary interest down to our day. This autobiography, translated along with her other writings into about 50 languages, has made Thérèse known in every part of the world, even outside the Catholic Church. A century after her death, Thérèse of the Child Jesus continues to be recognized as one of the great masters of the spiritual life in our time.

4. It is not surprising then that the Apostolic See received many petitions to confer on her the title of Doctor of the Universal Church.

In recent years, especially with the happy occasion of the first centenary of her death close at hand, these requests became more and more numerous, including on the part of Episcopal Conferences; in addition, study conferences were held and numerous publications have pointed out how Thérèse of the Child Jesus possesses an extraordinary wisdom and with her doctrine helps so many men and women of every state in life to know and love Jesus Christ and his Gospel.

In the light of these facts, I decided carefully to study whether the Saint of Lisieux had the prerequisites for being awarded the title of Doctor of the Universal Church.

5. In this context I am pleased to recall briefly some events in the life of Thérèse of the Child Jesus. Born in Alençon, France, on 2 January 1873, she is baptized two days later in the Church of Notre Dame, receiving the name Marie-Françoise-Thérèse. Her parents are Louis Martin and Zélie Guérin, whose heroic virtues I recently recognized. After her mother's death on 28 August 1877, Thérèse moves with her whole family to the town of Lisieux where, surrounded by the affection of her father and sisters, she receives a formation both demanding and full of tenderness.

Towards the end of 1879 she receives the sacrament of Penance for the first time. On the day of Pentecost in 1883 she has the extraordinary grace of being healed from a serious illness through the intercession of Our Lady of Victories. Educated by the Benedictines of Lisieux, she receives First Communion on 8 May 1884, after an intense preparation crowned with an exceptional experience of the grace of intimate union with Jesus. A few weeks later, on 14 June of that same year, she receives the sacrament of Confirmation with a vivid awareness of what the gift of the Holy Spirit involves in her personal sharing in the grace of Pentecost. On Christmas Day of 1886 she has a profound spiritual experience that she describes as a "complete conversion". As a result, she overcomes the emotional weakness caused by the loss of her mother and begins "to run as a giant" on the way of perfection (cf. Ms A, 44v45v).

Thérèse wishes to embrace the contemplative life, like her sisters Pauline and Marie in the Carmel of Lisieux, but is prevented from doing so by her young age. During a pilgrimage to Italy, after visiting the Holy House of Loreto and places in the Eternal City, at an audience granted by the Pope to the faithful of the Diocese of Lisieux on 20 November 1887, she asks Leo XIII with filial boldness to be able to enter Carmel at the age of 15 years.

On 9 April 1888 she enters the Carmel of Lisieux, where she receives the habit of the Blessed Virgin's order on 10 January of the following year and makes her religious profession on 8 September 1890, the feast of the Birth of the Virgin Mary. At Carmel she undertakes the way of perfection marked out by the Mother Foundress, Teresa of Jesus, with genuine fervour and fidelity in fulfilling the various community tasks entrusted to her. Illumined by the Word of God, particularly tried by the illness of her beloved father, Louis Martin, who dies on 29 July 1894, Thérèse embarks on the way of holiness, insisting on the centrality of love. She discovers and imparts to the novices entrusted to her care the little way of spiritual childhood, by which she enters more and more deeply into the mystery of the Church and, drawn by the love of Christ, feels growing within her the apostolic and missionary vocation which spurs her to bring everyone with her to meet the divine Spouse.

On 9 June 1895, the feast of the Most Holy Trinity, she offers herself as a sacrificial victim to the merciful Love of God. On 3 April of the following year, on the night between Holy Thursday and Good Friday, she notices the first symptoms of the illness which will lead to her death. Thérèse welcomes it as a mysterious visitation of the divine Spouse. At the same time she undergoes a trial of faith which will last until her death. As her health deteriorates, she is moved to the infirmary on 8 July 1897. Her sisters and other religious collect her sayings, while her sufferings and trials, borne with patience, intensify to the moment of her death on the afternoon of 30 September 1897. "I am not dying; I am entering life", she had written to one of her spiritual brothers, Fr Bellière (Lettres 244). Her last words, "My God, I love you", are the seal of her life.

6. Thérèse of the Child Jesus left us writings that deservedly qualify her as a teacher of the spiritual life. Her principal work remains the account of her life in three autobiographical manuscripts (Manuscrits autobiographiques A, B, C), first published with the soon to be famous title of Histoire d'une Âme.

In Manuscript A, written at the request of her sister Agnes of Jesus, then Prioress of the monastery, and given to her on 21 January 1896, Thérèse describes the stages of her religious experience: the early years of childhood, especially the time of her First Communion and Confirmation, adolescence, up to her entrance into Carmel and her first profession.

Manuscript B, written during her retreat that same year at the request of her sister Marie of the Sacred Heart, contains some of the most beautiful, best known and oft-quoted passages from the Saint of Lisieux. They reveal the Saint's full maturity as she speaks of her vocation in the Church, the Bride of Christ and Mother of souls.

Manuscript C, composed in June and the first days of July 1897, a few months before her death and dedicated to the Prioress, Marie de Gonzague, who had requested it, completes the recollections in Manuscript A on life in Carmel. These pages reveal the author's supernatural wisdom. Thérèse recounts some sublime experiences during this final period of her life. She devotes moving pages to her trial of faith: a grace of purification that immerses her in a long and painful dark night, illuminated by her trust in the merciful, fatherly love of God. Once again, and without repeating herself, Thérèse makes the light of the Gospel shine brightly. Here we find the most beautiful pages she devoted to trusting abandonment into God's hands, to unity between love of God and love of neighbour, to her missionary vocation in the Church.

In these three different manuscripts, which converge in a thematic unity and in a progressive description of her life and spiritual way, Thérèse has left us an original autobiography which is the story of her soul. It shows how in her life God has offered the world a precise message, indicating an evangelical way, the "little way", which everyone can take, because everyone is called to holiness.

In the 266 Lettres we possess, addressed to family members, women religious and missionary "brothers", Thérèse shares her wisdom, developing a teaching that is actually a profound exercise in the spiritual direction of souls.

Her writings also include 54 Poésies, some of which have great theological and spiritual depth inspired by Sacred Scripture. Worthy of special mention are Vivre d'Amour!... (Poésies 17) and Pourquoi je t'aime, ô Marie! (Poésies 54), an original synthesis of the Virgin Mary's journey according to the Gospel. To this literary production should be added eight Récréations pieuses: poetic and theatrical compositions, conceived and performed by the Saint for her community on certain feast days, in accordance with the tradition of Carmel. Among those writings should be mentioned a series of 21 Prières. Nor can we forget the collection of all she said during the last months of her life. These sayings, of which there are several editions, known as the Novissima verba, have also been given the title Derniers Entretiens.

7. From careful study of the writings of St Thérèse of the Child Jesus and from the resonance they have had in the Church, salient aspects can be noted of her "eminent doctrine", which is the fundamental element for conferring the title of Doctor of the Church.

First of all, we find a special charism of wisdom. This young Carmelite, without any particular theological training, but illumined by the light of the Gospel, feels she is being taught by the divine Teacher who, as she says, is "the Doctor of Doctors" (Ms A, 83v), and from him she receives "divine teachings" (Ms B, 1r). She feels that the words of Scripture are fulfilled in her: "Whoever is a little one, let him come to me.... For to him that is little, mercy shall be shown" (Ms B, 1v; cf. Prv 9:4; Wis 6:6) and she knows she is being instructed in the science of love, hidden from the wise and prudent, which the divine Teacher deigned to reveal to her, as to babes (Ms A, 49r; cf. Lk 10:21-22).

Pius XI, who considered Thérèse of Lisieux the "Star of his pontificate", did not hesitate to assert in his homily on the day of her canonization, 17 May 1925: "The Spirit of truth opened and made known to her what he usually hides from the wise and prudent and reveals to little ones; thus she enjoyed such knowledge of the things above - as Our immediate Predecessor attests - that she shows everyone else the sure way of salvation" (AAS 17 [1925], p. 213).

Her teaching not only conforms to Scripture and the Catholic faith, but excels ("eminet") for the depth and wise synthesis it achieved. Her doctrine is at once a confession of the Church's faith, an experience of the Christian mystery and a way to holiness. Thérèse offers a mature synthesis of Christian spirituality: she combines theology and the spiritual life; she expresses herself with strength and authority, with a great ability to persuade and communicate, as is shown by the reception and dissemination of her message among the People of God.

Thérèse's teaching expresses with coherence and harmonious unity the dogmas of the Christian faith as a doctrine of truth and an experience of life. In this regard it should not be forgotten that the understanding of the deposit of faith transmitted by the Apostles, as the Second Vatican Council teaches, makes progress in the Church with the help of the Holy Spirit: "There is growth in insight into the realities and words that are passed on... through the contemplation and study of believers who ponder these things in their hearts (cf. Lk 2:19 and 51). It comes from the intimate sense of spiritual realities which they experience. And it comes from the preaching of those who have received, along with their right of succession in the episcopate, the sure charism of truth" (Dei Verbum, n. 8).

In the writings of Thérèse of Lisieux we do not find perhaps, as in other Doctors, a scholarly presentation of the things of God, but we can discern an enlightened witness of faith which, while accepting with trusting love God's merciful condescension and salvation in Christ, reveals the mystery and holiness of the Church.

Thus we can rightly recognize in the Saint of Lisieux the charism of a Doctor of the Church, because of the gift of the Holy Spirit she received for living and expressing her experience of faith, and because of her particular understanding of the mystery of Christ. In her are found the gifts of the new law, that is, the grace of the Holy Spirit, who manifests himself in living faith working through charity (cf. St Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theol., I-II, q. 106, art. 1; q. 108, art. 1).

We can apply to Thérèse of Lisieux what my Predecessor Paul VI said of another young Saint and Doctor of the Church, Catherine of Siena: "What strikes us most about the Saint is her infused wisdom, that is to say, her lucid, profound and inebriating absorption of the divine truths and mysteries of faith.... That assimilation was certainly favoured by the most singular natural gifts, but it was also evidently something prodigious, due to a charism of wisdom from the Holy Spirit" (AAS 62 [1970], p. 675).

8. With her distinctive doctrine and unmistakable style, Thérèse appears as an authentic teacher of faith and the Christian life. In her writings, as in the sayings of the Holy Fathers, is found that life-giving presence of Catholic tradition whose riches, as the Second Vatican Council again says, "are poured out in the practice and life of the Church, in her belief and prayer" (Dei Verbum, n. 8).

If considered in its literary genre, corresponding to her education and culture, and if evaluated according to the particular circumstances of her era, the doctrine of Thérèse of Lisieux appears in providential harmony with the Church's most authentic tradition, both for its confession of the Catholic faith and for its promotion of the most genuine spiritual life, presented to all the faithful in a living, accessible language.

She has made the Gospel shine appealingly in our time; she had the mission of making the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, known and loved; she helped to heal souls of the rigours and fears of Jansenism, which tended to stress God's justice rather than his divine mercy. In God's mercy she contemplated and adored all the divine perfections, because "even his justice (and perhaps even more so than the other perfections) seems to me clothed in love" (Ms A, 83v·). Thus she became a living icon of that God who, according to the Church's prayer, "shows his almighty power in his mercy and forgiveness" (cf. Roman Missal, Opening prayer, 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time).

Even though Thérèse does not have a true and proper doctrinal corpus, nevertheless a particular radiance of doctrine shines forth from her writings which, as if by a charism of the Holy Spirit, grasp the very heart of the message of Revelation in a fresh and original vision, presenting a teaching of eminent quality.

The core of her message is actually the mystery itself of God-Love, of the Triune God, infinitely perfect in himself. If genuine Christian spiritual experience should conform to the revealed truths in which God communicates himself and the mystery of his will (cf. Dei Verbum, n. 2), it must be said that Thérèse experienced divine revelation, going so far as to contemplate the fundamental truths of our faith united in the mystery of Trinitarian life. At the summit, as the source and goal, is the merciful love of the three Divine Persons, as she expresses it, especially in her Act of Oblation to Merciful Love. At the root, on the subject's part, is the experience of being the Father's adoptive children in Jesus; this is the most authentic meaning of spiritual childhood, that is, the experience of divine filiation, under the movement of the Holy Spirit. At the root again, and standing before us, is our neighbour, others, for whose salvation we must collaborate with and in Jesus, with the same merciful love as his.

Through spiritual childhood one experiences that everything comes from God, returns to him and abides in him, for the salvation of all, in a mystery of merciful love. Such is the doctrinal message taught and lived by this Saint.

As it was for the Church's Saints in every age, so also for her, in her spiritual experience Christ is the centre and fullness of Revelation. Thérèse knew Jesus, loved him and made him loved with the passion of a bride. She penetrated the mysteries of his infancy, the words of his Gospel, the passion of the suffering Servant engraved on his holy Face, in the splendour of his glorious life, in his Eucharistic presence. She sang of all the expressions of Christ's divine charity, as they are presented in the Gospel (cf. PN 24, Jésus, mon Bien-Aimé, rappelle-toi!).

Thérèse received particular light on the reality of Christ's Mystical Body, on the variety of its charisms, gifts of the Holy Spirit, on the eminent power of love, which in a way is the very heart of the Church, where she found her vocation as a contemplative and missionary (cf. Ms B, 2r·-3v·).

Lastly, among the most original chapters of her spiritual doctrine we must recall Thérèse's wise delving into the mystery and journey of the Virgin Mary, achieving results very close to the doctrine of the Second Vatican Council in chapter eight of the Constitution Lumen gentium and to what I myself taught in the Encyclical Letter Redemptoris Mater of 25 March 1987.

9. The primary source of her spiritual experience and her teaching is the Word of God in the Old and New Testaments. She herself admits it, particularly stressing her passionate love for the Gospel (cf. Ms A, 83v). Her writings contain over 1,000 biblical quotations: more than 400 from the Old Testament and over 600 from the New.

Despite her inadequate training and lack of resources for studying and interpreting the sacred books, Thérèse immersed herself in meditation on the Word of God with exceptional faith and spontaneity. Under the influence of the Holy Spirit she attained a profound knowledged of Revelation for herself and for others. By her loving concentration on Scripture - she even wanted to learn Hebrew and Greek to understand better the spirit and letter of the sacred books - she showed the importance of the biblical sources in the spiritual life, she emphasized the originality and freshness of the Gospel, she cultivated with moderation the spiritual exegesis of the Word of God in both the Old and New Testaments. Thus she discovered hidden treasures, appropriating words and episodes, sometimes with supernatural boldness, as when, in reading the texts of St Paul (cf. 1 Cor 12-13), she realized her vocation to love (cf. Ms B, 3r-3v). Enlightened by the revealed Word, Thérèse wrote brilliant pages on the unity between love of God and love of neighbour (cf. Ms C, 11v-19r); and she identified with Jesus' prayer at the Last Supper as the expression of her intercession for the salvation of all (cf. Ms C, 34r-35r).

Her doctrine, as was said, conforms to the Church's teaching. From childhood she was taught by her family to participate in prayer and liturgical worship. In preparation for her first Confession, first Communion and the sacrament of Confirmation, she gave evidence of an extraordinary love for the truths of the faith, and she learned the Catechism almost word for word (cf. Ms A, 37r-37v). At the end of her life she wrote the Apostles' Creed in her own blood, as an expression of her unreserved attachment to the profession of faith.

In addition to the words of Scripture and the Church's doctrine, Thérèse was nourished as a youth by the teaching of the Imitation of Christ, which, as she herself acknowledges, she knew almost by heart (cf. Ms A, 47r). Decisive for fulfilling her Carmelite vocation were the spiritual texts of the Mother Foundress, Teresa of Jesus, especially those explaining the contemplative and ecclesial meaning of the charism of the Teresian Carmel (cf. Ms C, 33v). But in a very special way, Thérèse was nourished on the mystical doctrine of St John of the Cross, who was her true spiritual master (cf. Ms A, 83r). It should cause no surprise, then, if she who had been an outstanding pupil in the school of these two Saints, later declared Doctors of the Church, should later become a master of the spiritual life.

10. The spiritual doctrine of Thérèse of Lisieux has helped extend the kingdom of God. By her example of holiness, of perfect fidelity to Mother Church, of full communion with the See of Peter, as well as by the special graces obtained by her for many missionary brothers and sisters, she has rendered a particular service to the renewed proclamation and experience of Christ's Gospel and to the extension of the Catholic faith in every nation on earth.

There is no need to dwell at length on the universality of Thérèse's doctrine and on the broad reception of her message during the century since her death: it has been well documented in the studies made in view of conferring on her the title of Doctor of the Church.

A particularly important fact in this regard is that the Church's Magisterium has not only recognized Thérèse's holiness, but has also highlighted the wisdom of her doctrine. Pius X had already said that she was "the greatest saint of modern times". On joyfully receiving the first Italian edition of the Story of a Soul, he extolled the fruits that had resulted from Thérèse's spirituality. Benedict XV, on the occasion of proclaiming the Servant of God's heroic virtues, explained the way of spiritual childhood and praised the knowledge of divine realities which God granted to Thérèse in order to teach others the ways of salvation (cf. AAS 13 [1921], pp. 449-452). On the occasion of both her beatification and canonization, Pius XI wished to expound and recommend the Saint's doctrine, underscoring her special divine enlightenment (Discorsi di Pio XI, vol. I, Turin 1959, p. 91) and describing her as a teacher of life (cf. AAS 17 [1925], pp. 211-214). When the Basilica of Lisieux was consecrated in 1954, Pius XII said, among other things, that Thérèse penetrated to the very heart of the Gospel with her doctrine (cf. AAS 46 [1954], pp. 404-408). Cardinal Angelo Roncalli, the future Pope John XXIII, visited Lisieux several times, especially when he was Nuncio in Paris. On various occasions during his pontificate he showed his devotion to the Saint and explained the relationship between the doctrine of the Saint of Avila and her daughter, Thérèse of Lisieux (Discorsi, Messaggi, Colloqui, vol. II [1959-1960], pp. 771-772). Many times during the celebration of the Second Vatican Council, the Fathers recalled her example and doctrine. On the centenary of her birth, Paul VI addressed a Letter on 2 January 1973 to the Bishop of Bayeux and Lisieux, in which he extolled Thérèse's example in the search for God, offered her as a teacher of prayer and theological virtue of hope, and a model of communion with the Church, calling the attention of teachers, educators, pastors and theologians themselves to the study of her doctrine (cf. AAS 65 [1973], pp. 12-15). I myself on various occasions have had the joy of recalling the person and doctrine of the Saint, especially during my unforgettable visit to Lisieux on 2 June 1980, when I wished to remind everyone: "One can say with conviction about Thérèse of Lisieux that the Spirit of God allowed her heart to reveal directly to the people of our time the fundamental mystery, the reality of the Gospel.... Her 'little way' is the way of 'holy childhood'. There is something unique in this way, the genius of St Thérèse of Lisieux. At the same time there is the confirmation and renewal of the most basic and most universal truth. What truth of the Gospel message is really more basic and more universal than this: God is our Father and we are his children?" (Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, vol. III/1 [1980], p. 1659).

These simple references to an uninterrupted series of testimonies from the Popes of this century on the holiness and doctrine of St Thérèse of the Child Jesus and to the universal dissemination of her message clearly express to what extent the Church, in her pastors and her faithful, has accepted the spiritual doctrine of this young Saint.

A sign of the ecclesial reception of the Saint's teaching is the appeal to her doctrine in many documents of the Church's ordinary Magisterium, especially when speaking of the contemplative and missionary vocation, of trust in the just and merciful God, of Christian joy and of the call to holiness. Evidence of this fact is the presence of her doctrine in the recent Catechism of the Catholic Church (nn. 127, 826, 956, 1011, 2011, 2558). She who so loved to learn the truths of the faith in the catechism deserved to be included among the authoritative witnesses of Catholic doctrine.

Thérèse possesses an exceptional universality. Her person, the Gospel message of the "little way" of trust and spiritual childhood have received and continue to receive a remarkable welcome, which has transcended every border.

The influence of her message extends first of all to men and women whose holiness and heroic virtues the Church herself has recognized, to the Church's pastors, to experts in theology and spirituality, to priests and seminarians, to men and women religious, to ecclesial movements and new communities, to men and women of every condition and every continent. To everyone Thérèse gives her personal confirmation that the Christian mystery, whose witness and apostle she became by making herself in prayer "the apostle of the apostles", as she boldly calls herself (Ms A, 56r·), must be taken literally, with the greatest possible realism, because it has a value for every time and place. The power of her message lies in its concrete explanation of how all Jesus' promises are fulfilled in the believer who knows how confidently to welcome in his own life the saving presence of the Redeemer.

11. All these reasons are clear evidence of how timely is the Saint of Lisieux's doctrine and of the particular impact her message has had on the men and women of our century. Moreover, some circumstances contribute to making her designation as a Teacher for the Church of our time even more significant.

First of all, Thérèse is a woman, who in approaching the Gospel knew how to grasp its hidden wealth with that practicality and deep resonance of life and wisdom which belong to the feminine genius. Because of her universality she stands out among the multitude of holy women who are resplendent for their Gospel wisdom.

Thérèse is also a contemplative. In the hiddenness of her Carmel she lived the great adventure of Christian experience to the point of knowing the breadth, length, height and depth of Christ's love (cf. Eph 3:18-19). God did not want his secrets to remain hidden, but enabled Thérèse to proclaim the secrets of the King (cf. Ms C, 2v·). By her life Thérèse offers a witness and theological illustration of the beauty of the contemplative life as the total dedication to Christ, Spouse of the Church, and as an affirmation of God's primacy over all things. Hers is a hidden life which possesses a mysterious fruitfulness for spreading the Gospel and fills the Church and the world with the sweet odour of Christ (cf. LT 169, 2v).

Lastly, Thérèse of Lisieux is a young person. She reached the maturity of holiness in the prime of youth (cf. Ms C, 4r). As such, she appears as a Teacher of evangelical life, particularly effective in illumining the paths of young people, who must be the leaders and witnesses of the Gospel to the new generations.

Thérèse of the Child Jesus is not only the youngest Doctor of the Church, but is also the closest to us in time, as if to emphasize the continuity with which the Spirit of the Lord sends his messengers to the Church, men and women as teachers and witnesses to the faith. In fact, whatever changes can be noted in the course of history and despite the repercussions they usually have on the life and thought of individuals in every age, we must never lose sight of the continuity which links the Doctors of the Church to each other: in every historical context they remain witnesses to the unchanging Gospel and, with the light and strength that come from the Holy Spirit, they become its messengers, returning to proclaim it in its purity to their contemporaries. Thérèse is a Teacher for our time, which thirsts for living and essential words, for heroic and credible acts of witness. For this reason she is also loved and accepted by brothers and sisters of other Christian communities and even by non-Christians.

12. This year, when the centenary of the glorious death of Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face is being celebrated, as we prepare to celebrate the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, after receiving a great number of authoritative petitions, especially from many Episcopal Conferences throughout the world, and after accepting the official petition, or Supplex Libellus, addressed to me on 8 March 1997 by the Bishop of Bayeux and Lisieux, as well as from the Superior General of the Discalced Carmelites of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and from the Postulator General of the same order, I decided to entrust the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, which has competence in this matter, with the special study of the cause for conferring the title of Doctor on this Saint, "after hearing the opinion of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith regarding the eminent doctrine" (Apost. Const. Pastor Bonus, n. 73).

After the necessary documentation had been collected, the two above-mentioned Congregations addressed the question in the meetings of their respective consultors: the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on 5 May 1997, with regard to the "eminent doctrine", and the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on 29 May of the same year, to examine the special "Positio". On the following 17 June, the Cardinals and Bishops who are members of these Congregations, following a procedure approved by me for this occasion, met in a plenary interdicasterial session and discussed the cause, giving a unanimously favourable opinion on granting the title of Doctor of the Universal Church to St Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face. I was personally informed of this opinion by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and by the Pro-Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Archbishop Alberto Bovone, titular Archbishop of Caesarea in Numidia.

In view of this, on 24 August last, during the Angelus prayer in the presence of hundreds of Bishops and before a vast throng of young people from around the world, gathered in Paris for the 12th World Youth Day, I wanted personally to announce my intention to proclaim Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face a Doctor of the Universal Church during the celebration of World Mission Sunday in Rome.

Today, 19 October 1997, in St Peter's Square, filled with faithful from every part of the world, and in the presence of a great many Cardinals, Archbishops and Bishops, during the solemn Eucharistic celebration I proclaimed Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face a Doctor of the Universal Church in these words: Fulfilling the wishes of many Brothers in the Episcopate and of a great number of the faithful throughout the world, after consulting the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and hearing the opinion of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith regarding her eminent doctrine, with certain knowledge and after lengthy reflection, with the fullness of Our apostolic authority We declare Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, virgin, to be a Doctor of the Universal Church. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

This having been duly enacted, We decree that this Apostolic Letter is to be religiously preserved and to have full effect both now and in the future; furthermore, it is thus to be judged and defined as right, and whatever to the contrary may be attempted by anyone, on whatever authority, knowingly or unknowingly, is null and void.

Given in Rome, at St Peter's, under the Fisherman's ring, the 19th day of the month of October in the year of the Lord 1997, the 20th of the Pontificate.

On the 15th of September, following the reading of the final message, which will be published in citoc-online in the next few days in the three official languages of the Order) the 2011 General Congregation, held at Mount Carmel Spiritual Center (Niagara Falls, Canada) came to a close. At the end of the closing Mass, the Prior General, Fr. Fernando Millán Romeral, O.Carm. accompanied by the General Council, blessed a new chapel dedicated to Blessed Titus Brandsma in the Church of the spiritual center. The chapel which was designed by two Carmelites, Stanley Makacinas and John Benedict Weber, and built by a local artist, Nicholas Napolitano, illustrates various aspects of the life of Blessed Titus. The Provincials, Commissaries and General Delegates who were attending the Congregation took part in the dedication ceremony. As is well known, Fr. Titus visited this house in 1935 where he gave a number of conferences on Carmelite spirituality. In addition he wrote a very beautiful reflection based on the famous waterfalls that are only a short distance away.

The Elective Chapter of the Carmelite Monastery of Ntra. Sra. de la Asunción, Huesca, Spain, was held 2 September 2011. The following were elected:

• Prioress: Sr. M. Inés Nthenya Nzyuko, O.Carm.
• 1st Councilor:  Sr. M. Carmen Ibarra Lorea, O.Carm.
• 2nd Councilor: Sr .M. Concepción Durán Bestué, O.Carm.
• 3rd Councilor: Sr .M. Anastasia Kavuu Kiswili, O.Carm.
• 4th Couniclor: Sr .M. Jacinta Nthenya Wambua, O.Carm.
• Director of Novices: Sr. M. Anastasia Kavuu, O.Carm.
• Treasurer:  Sr. M. Carmen Ibarra Lorea, O.Carm.
• Sacristan:  Sr. M. Jacinta Nthenya Wambua, O.Carm.

Ernest E. Larkin, O.Carm.

A few years ago a fantasy on monastic life appeared called Brother Petroc’s Return. Brother Petroc went to sleep in one age and woke in another to find things in the monastery completely changed. In place of the old disciplina, the leisurely, relaxed, reflective atmosphere of the Middle Ages, he found exercises and bells, examinations of conscience and meditations, introspection, subjectivism, and individualism. 

If a Carmelite had fallen asleep in the seminary in 1945 or 1955 and awakened now, what would he find? More important, what should he find, according to the ideals of renewal in Vatican II and the General Chapter, 1965? 

First, the present situation: the winds of change have left their mark at every level in the seminary. I speak only for the major seminary. Instead of the shift from disciplina to observances, there has been a change from exercises to attitudes,. These attitudes are impossible to define and difficult to describe. They are summed up in a new vocabulary that is meaningful to the younger generation and equivocal to their elders. These new words are: interpersonal relationships, love, freedom, collegiality, authenticity, responsibility, commitment, and involvement. Actually these are fighting words in student-faculty relationships because they mean different things for the two groups. But whatever their meaning, the young see these new values as incompatible with the old forms in seminary life. To most of the students, it is impossible to pray “authentically” in La tin or to cultivate personal responsibility if one’s horarium is set out for him. We are still stuck with the old system; as a result we have a generation of questioning, critical people. 

Very briefly, this is a summary of the young Carmelite today. He is anxious to attain and preserve the values of personalism but he is at sea in the old structures of religious and seminary life. 

Now to the second question: what image is projected by Vatican II and our General Chapter? Both the Council and the Chapter try to state the religious and Carmelite ideal in terms of the modern mentality. They describe the Carmelite of the future in personalist characteristics. I single out three such qualities: he must be authentically Carmelite, truly human, and above all a man in and for the church. 

Authentically Carmelite 

The first quality refers to our identity as Carmelites. This is an old subject, and one not always satisfactorily resolved, but it seems to me that our identity crisis is well on the way to resolution through the documents of Vatican II and the General Chapter. 

Vatican II describes the forms of religious life in the recent Decree on Adaptation and Renewal of Religious Life (October 28, 1965). By a process of elimination we can find where we belong in the mind of the Church. We are not among the exclusively contemplative orders lauded in n. 7; therefore, we belong to the communities devoted to the apostolic life in n. 8. But we are partly monastic (n. 9) because we join “ the apostolic life to choir duty and monastic observances” (n. 9). The decree wisely avoids abstract terms like active life and contemplative life or mixed orders, as did our General Chapter in delineating the Order’s purpose. The concrete terms provide a more practical and real definition of our life. The Council approves our “way of life” and urges us to be faithful to, it even as we adapt its  “manner” to the demands to the apostolate (n. 9). 

To list these two basic elements in our life is, not to solve the old problem of the integration of the apostolate and religious observance. Both the Council and the Chapter attempt to solve the tension between these two by emphasizing positive attitudes toward the apostolate. 

The Council’s Decree speaks of apostolic love rather than apostolic action, This serves to place the apostolate squarely in the very structure of our religious life, which according to Lumen gentium is an evangelical and ecclesial witnessing. Religious are followers of Christ, but dynamic doers of the Word in imitation of Christ. In this way they mirror Christ “contemplating on the mountain, announcing the kingdom of God to the crowds, healing the sick and the maimed, converting sinners to a better life.” (Lumen gentium, n. 46). The actual works are less, important than the holiness the works manifest (Decree on Adaptation, n. 2, e). In fact, the works are charisms, or they are worthless (n. 8). The community must be flexible enough to adapt itself to the various apostolate and the work chosen must be in accord with the genius and vocation of each community. This means that the “ministries” of the Order should be constantly updated, pruned, revised (n.20). 

The decree thus underlines the one consecration of our religious lives with its two facets of apostolate and community life. But is this a viable definition? Can apostolic involvement and faithfulness to religious practices live in unison? The decree obviously thinks so, with the necessary adaptations which it leaves, to the communities (nn. 3 and 4). Happily our General Chapter has taken some steps to update our practices. 

The Chapter recognized that a detailed and demanding schedule of exercises must give way to flexibility (Relatio, prop. 306). It teaches that individual absences from community functions, which are often necessary in a busy house with different apostolates, must be compensated for by a strong emphasis on an “affective” community life. Perhaps the Chapter should have spoken out more clearly on the necessity of “effective” community, on the necessity of physical silence and solitude and community exercises. It preferred to stay with essential principles, so it emphasizes communal charity (prop. 301, 302, 303). The hope of the Order is this deepening of fraternal unity and charity in our communities (prop. 303). New forms must be created to encourage exchanges, reduce “secrets,” promote mutual trust and love. Group discussions, for example, or the technique of “revision of life,” which is, an adaptation of Jocist Catholic Action procedure, might well take the place of the old culpa (prop. 5). 

With regard to nourishing prayer life, the first source must be Sacred Scripture and Liturgy. This is one of the basic insights of Vatican II, repeated in many decrees, including the one on Adaptation (n. 6). The Chapter applies this principle in many ways: by its postulation for the vernacular in choir, for a more fruitful exposure to the word of God (prop. 320); its principle of veritas temporis for the hours of Office, hence the postulation for the private recitation of two little hours, (prop. 318); its insistence on the central place of community Mass, (prop. 322). On the other hand, the Chapter encourages the private fulfilling of private devotions like meditation, examination of conscience, and the various forms of lectio divina such as spiritual reading or visits, thereby giving a vote of confidence to individual responsibility and freedom. 

But, you may say, what has happened to contemplation in this aggiornamento? Have we become a modern congregation? The Chapter spoke but little about contemplation and the contemplative life, but not because it wished to minimize prayer. It wished to avoid the old dichotomies of the pars principabor and other abstractions that have become red herrings in discussions of Carmelite life. The Relatio does not abandon our tradition; it departs only from an excessively theoretical and artificial statement of that tradition. Carmelites must be men of prayer, deep prayer like contemplation. Carmelites of the Twentieth Century must seek “to present a pure heart to God ... and taste even in this life the sweetness of the divine presence” (Institution of the First Monks). They must put growth in union with Christ in the first place, but they must do this in the concrete conditions of the apostolate and community life. Prayer and contemplation is the soul, the life, the center of all that they do. It means finding God, and for Carmelites of the Ancient Observance in the mid-sixties this will take place less in the silence and solitude of the desert than in the apostolic involvement of city monasteries. 

Truly Human 

The second two qualities of the Carmelite of the future can be treated more summarily. The human quality means that he is seeking and finding self- fulfillment as well as sanctity. The spirituality presented by the Decree on Adaptation is both this-worldly, and incarnational spirituality, as well as otherworldly, an eschatological spirituality. The document makes every attempt to integrate culture and sanctity (n. 18), psychological development and spirituality. Adaptations, for example, are to take psychic as well as physical needs into account (n. 3). Emotional maturity and a right understanding are presupposed for chastity, and even then “true brotherly love in the common life of the community” is demanded for a successful outcome of celibacy (n. 12). Poverty must be real poverty, for the individual as well as the community, exemplified in one’s daily labor for his own support and the rejection of a legalistic reduction of poverty to getting permissions (n. 13). Obedience is a service, both on the part of superior and subject, and it demands mutual responsibility for decisions taken (n. 14). But above all the common life is the very heart of religious life. Religious, life is not even Christian if it is no t a community of love and adoration, a reflection of the one life of the Mystical Body (n. 14). This ideal of the Decree is concretized in our Relatio by the constant appeal to brotherly love, the attempt to equalize the position of the brothers with the clerics, in the community, and the philosophy that a deep community sense can supply for the lack of some of the lost monastic structures. 

Man of the Church 

When all is said and done, however, the Carmelite of the future is especially a man of the Church. His religious family was born in the Church and for the Church, and is nourished by the Church’s wisdom and grace. But over the years, centuries perhaps, a religious order can become a church within a church, especially where there is mistrust between the order and the hierarchy or the order and the secular clergy. The existence of real tensions in these areas, was brought to the floor of the Council by the Marist General, Father Buckley. In. Holland today attempts are being made for closer collaboration in the apostolate between the orders, and the seculars through conferences between provincials and bishops—something we might hope for in our land. The fact of the matter is this: whenever an order separates itself from the Church, even psychologically, it starts to think small, to be more concerned about its privileges than the great movements of the Holy Spirit in the Mystical Body. Have we involved ourselves sufficiently in the liturgical, biblical, ecumenical and social renewals going on in the Church today? Are we implementing these main thrusts of the Church’s action today in the schools and parishes and works that are our daily tasks? One might wish that our General Chapter had spoken at greater length about the great movements going on in the Church today. There is only one number (and it was an afterthought) on the ecumenical movement; there are only vague references to the other trends. 

Lumen gentium in its chapter 6 on Religious has taught us to see ourselves as servants in the Church, men dedicated anew by their vows to the promises of their Baptism, hence Christians above all. Religious witness is special, but essentially it is the witness of the one calling all Christians have in Christ Jesus. The Decree on Adaptation repeats these perspectives. Religious bent on renewal are called upon to go back to the authentic sources of Christian life (Bible and Liturgy) and back to the original inspiration of their founder. Constitutions, by-laws, customs, even Canon Law are not normative for renewal; only origins and present-day needs, are to spell out the new image of the religious (nn. 2-3). A sign of this identity with the Mystical Body is, the fact that religious are urged to share their material wealth, not only within the order, but with the local Church itself (n. 13). 1 submit that the way we react to this suggestion is a good indication of how “ecclesial” our thinking really is. We can be grateful to the Chapter for moving in the healthy direction of “ecclesiality” when it declines, to emphasize exemption and underlines our disponibility in the Church (n. 1) and when it decrees that our youth should be schooled in the idea that we are in the service of the church (prop. 217). 

Such then is the Carmelite of the future, the ideal we must strive to implement in ourselves and in our aspirants. We should not fear to develop an American brand of Carmelite. One of the most obvious trends of Vatican II and the General Chapter was decentralization and local differentiation. But however “American” he is, our Carmelite of the future must be the genuine article, a real man, and a man of the Church. 

Donald Buggert, O. Carm.

As Cicconetti notes, the phrase “in obsequio Jesu Christi,” drawn from 2 Cor. 10:5, takes on somewhat different meanings in differing situations. Valabek summarizes the Pauline meaning of this obsequium. A disciple of Christ is a doulos, a slave or servant who totally hands over one’s self, one’s thoughts, will, wishes to Christ, who becomes the most important person in one’s life. In turn the disciple shares in the very life of Christ and becomes a new self created in God’s way.

This Pauline notion of obsequium took on specific connotations in feudal times. What images or overtones did this Pauline expression evoke in the Hermits of Carmel during this feudal period?

The basic feudal meaning of “in obsequio” was that of service, the service which a vassal rendered to a sovereign. Cicconetti notes:

Following of or allegiance to another (obsequium) implied duties on the part of master and subject. Those living in the patrimony of a feudal lord promised good and faithful service, assistance in time of war and participation in resolution of problems or questions. In return the lord promised protection . . . to his subjects.

This secular meaning of “in obsequio” was transferred in the religious realm to service owed to God or (especially) Christ.

In the XII and XIII centuries, relationship with Christ was judged in similar terms; traditional feudal values of service . . . , of fidelity . . . , of allegiance or following (obsequium), of being bound to . . ., of dedication . . . , governed a man’s responsibilities to Christ with a pervading influence that colored every aspect of daily life.

All Christians were bound to this obsequium Christi. But during the period of the Crusades, the concept took on even greater specificity. Christ had been expelled from his own patrimony and had suffered an injustice. Hence popes evoked the concept to induce Christians to support the liberation of the Holy Land. Hence, the obsequium Jesu Christi had a very pregnant sense for Crusaders and others, such as the hermits on Mount Carmel, who pilgrima¬ged to or resided in the land of Christ. All such Christians became Christ’s special subjects, were especially dedicated to his service (obsequium) and were to be completely faithful to him.

Of course the patrimony of Christ was to be regained not only through military efforts. Since the fall of Jerusalem was attributed to the infidelity and sins of Christians, true interior conversion to Christ and spiritual arms (prayer, penance, fasting) were more important than the earthly weapons of the Crusader. The soldier of Christ had to arm himself with the disarming attitude of Christ. This was a spirituality founded on the passion of Christ and realized only by taking up the Cross, through which Christ himself had acquired the land. The obsequium Jesu Christi was, therefore, very much a following of the crucified Christ. .

In the case of the hermits of Carmel, therefore, their particular allegiance (obsequium) to Christ was very much defined by the then current theology of reconquering the land of Christ through spiritual combat in imitation of the suffering and Crucified Christ. They were to embrace poverty, penance, silence, solitude, prayer and fasting, “to follow Christ’s law, be available to do all things in his name, to vest themselves in spiritual armor” to disarm the forces of evil and above all to meditate upon the law of the Lord. In all of this, but especially through meditat¬ing upon the law of the Lord and the recitation of the psalms, they were to be transformed into Christ. It is this specific form of “walking in the footsteps of Jesus” which is signalled in the Prologue and further specified in their “formula of life.”

How the Obsequium Informs the Rule

I do not intend to analyze or comment upon each reference to Christ in the Rule. I merely wish first to make some general observations and then show how the very structuring of the rule is Christocentric.

From the above, one can see how the basic project of walking in the footsteps of Jesus, signalled in the Prologue, is then articulated in the Rule itself: faithful following of Christ through obedience to his represen¬tative, the prior (chapters I, XVII, XVIII), solitude (chapter III), meditating upon the law of Lord, vigilance in prayer, reciting psalms (chapters VII, VIII, X), poverty (chapter IX), penance as fasting and abstinence (chapters XII, XIII), vesting in spiritual armor for spiritual warfare (chapter XIV), doing all in the Word of the Lord (chapter XIV), willingness to undergo persecution (chapter XIV), silence (chapter XVI). In all of this Christ is present to the hermit community as model, teacher, savior and eschatological judge (chapter XVIII and Epi¬logue). Within this Christocentric perspective, Elijah and Mary, present only implicitly in the Rule, become subordinate models or symbols who serve to con-cretize the obsequium Jesu Christi.

Even more important than seeing how the various elements of the obse¬quium Jesu Christi are taken up in the chapters of the Rule is the Chris¬tocentric structuring of the Rule. And here we discover the role which the ideal Christian community of the Acts played for those first Carmelites in their walking in the footsteps of Jesus.

We saw above that the hermits on Carmel were part of a larger spiritual movement which espoused a return to the scriptures and the life of the Jerusalem community. Their walking in the footsteps of Jesus was not to be done in a solitary way but as a community. “Reechoing the insights of Luke, Albert enjoins on the hermits a following of Christ by following the ideals and values of the apostolic Christian community.” Hence it is no surprise that chapters VII-XI of the Rule parallel Acts 2:42-47;4:32-35 (fidelity to the Word, perseverance in prayer, sharing in goods, fraternal unity, the centrality of daily worship). Within the Rule, daily Eucharist is structurally central, i.e. it lies at the very center of the text (chapter X). This textual centrality reflects the spatial centrality of the Eucharis¬tic oratory in the midst of the cells. This textual and spatial centrality in turn indicate the theological center of the Rule, the Eucharist.

This structural approach to the Rule, with the Eucharist as its textual center, reveals that the center of this hermit community is, as it was for the Jerusalem community, Christ. The Rule now appears visually as an arc. At the two ends of the arc are the following of Christ (Prologue) and the awaiting of the return of the Lord (Epilogue). At its apex is the presence of Christ in the Eucharist. “Between these three reference points all the rest of the Rule rotates, either as a consequent actualization or as a dynamic referent.” Structurally the Rule is saying that the whole Chris¬tocentric project of the Rule, namely to walk in the footsteps of Jesus (Prologue) in anticipa¬tion of his return (Epilogue), is focused upon, celebrated in and subsumed into the Eucharist (Chapter X), in which Christ himself is sacramen¬tally present to the community and which itself anticipates his return.

In concluding this first part dealing with the Chris¬tocentricity of the Rule and by way of introducing the second part of this paper, I cite the words of Secondin:

In the Rule, then, we find a Christology which esteems dis¬cipleship and revolves around a “life in Christ,” prayerful listening to the Word, celebra¬tion of the Mystery, a vision of meditation as a way of imprinting Christ into one’s life . . . , and the awaiting of his return. The same way-of-life . . . as a dedication to the Lord in the Holy Land . . . is now transformed into an open journey to be under-taken in any place or time.

We invite you to share your experience when you visit this website. This could be an inspiration from Our Lady of Mount Carmel, The Scapular, Our Saints of Carmel, a Carmelite friar, cloistered nun or sister that you may know, or an article in this website. We also welcome your comment and suggestion so that this website can serve you better.

God bless

Carmelite Communication Office

www.ocarm.org

Carmelite Curia

ORDER OF CARMELITES – GENERAL CONGREGATION
NIAGARA FALLS, CANADA, 5 – 16 SEPTEMBER 2011
QUALITER RESPONDENDUM SIT QUAERENTIBUS

1.    The General Chapter of 2007 took as its theme “Praying and Prophetic Communities in a Changing World” and the speakers who addressed the assembly chose to concentrate on the figure of Elijah as an exemplar of contemplation, on the figure of Jesus Christ as the one we follow, or on the shifting sociological and demographic patterns of the contemporary world. The final message from the Chapter to the Carmelite Familiy described community as a place for authentic human values and respectful relationships.

2.    The Council of Provinces held in S. Felice del Benaco, Italy, in September 2009 focussed more specifically and more intensively on the idea and the practice of community itself. The final message reflected this emphasis, characterising community as place of encounter and growth which gave rise to relationships of trust and a place to listen and be listened to.

3.    In December 2010 the Definitory of the Discalced Carmelites met with our General Council on Mount Carmel to live together as a community for a few days, to visit some significant sites in the Holy Land and to reflect on the role of religious communities in the Church. In this last task we were aided and guided by Professor Gabino Uríbarri S.J. of Comillas University, Madrid. He noted that some of the reasons for the difficulties communities have in seeing a role for themselves in the Chuch stem from the renewed theology of the religious life propounded by Vatican II.

4.    Before Perfectae caritatis, religious had an assured identity and mission in the Church to offer a model of a perfect way of life which was superior to the lay state. Every diocese, every church at the local level, “needed” religious communities to remind them of a higher ideal and a holier lifestyle than that of the laity. Indeed, lay sanctity was seen in terms of imitating a religious ideal and not possessing its own identity or character. This all changed with Vatican II.

5.    The ecclesiology promoted by the Second Vatican Council stressed the importance and the efficacy of the lay vocation to holiness in its own right. The Church was no longer seen only as a one-way pyramid with the pope at the top and the laity at the base, with corresponding “degrees of perfection”. There was instead an emphasis on the vocation of all the people of God (lay and religious) based on the baptism of all believers and a share in Christ’s ministry of priest, prophet and king as part of a hierarchy of ministry. In a specifically Carmelite context, the letters and homilies of the former prior general, Fr. Joseph Chalmers, have done much to emphasise the centrality of contemplation in the Carmelite charism – whether lived by religious or by lay people.

6.    Professor Uríbarri explained the situation of relgious communities in the church in terms of the evolution of the theolgy of the religious life according to the ecclesiological principles of Vatican II. On the one hand, the Council placed religious life in a relationship of complementarity to the church. Religious communities offer a charismatic presence to the church for its up building. On the other hand, communities feel that the church has failed to integrate religious in its pastoral plans and strategies. This has led to a certain sense of disappointment and disillusionment that the vision of Vatican II has not been realised in many cases.

7.    Indeed it sometimes seems that bishops who were given the task of integrating the various gifts and charisms of religious into the life of their diocese, had turned away from the established institutes and congregations and were embracing many of the newer “ecclesial movements”in the Church today.

8.    In the discussions that followed Professor Uríbarri’s conferences, it seemed that a common chord had been struck as members of the two councils shared their own experiences and gave further examples of religious communities whose presence in and contribution to the church had effectively been ignored.

9.    It is in the context of an evolving understanding of community and the church from the 2007 General Chapter and the 2009 Council of Provinces that the General Council decided to propose the theme for the present General Congregation: “Qualiter respondendum sit quaerentibus”. These are the opening words of the so-called “Rubrica prima” which are found in the earliest Constitutions we possess, those of 1281. This paragraph may well date back in some form to 1247 when the Order took on a mendicant life style and apostolate. It represents an official answer to the question of how to reply to those who asked how the Order originated. The question today, of course, is not so much one of origins, but who we are and what we do in the church.

10.    Professor Uríbarri did not confine himself to describing the problem of integrating religious life at a local level, but also offered some suggestions for ways forward in dialogue among ourselves and with the church. The topics for discussion he indicated were:
a.    The idea of consecration
b.    The vows
c.    Prophecy
d.    The eschatological dimension
e.    Community living
f.    The specific charism of the order, congregation etc.
g.    Pastoral and apostolic tasks
h.    Universality at a local level

11.    These are only some ideas for further conversations and debate and each one of them could give rise to substantial reflection and friutful dialogue with the church. In order to help in the deliberations of the General Congregation, the Council has invited three experts to address us: Fr. Richard Rohr OFM, who will look at what the religious life has to offer to the Church today, Professor María Dolores López Guzmán from Spain who will address the topic from the point of view of a committed lay woman in the Church today and Fr. Michael Plattig O. Carm. who will examine what the Carmelite charism might offer.

12.    Although time is now relatively short before the General Congregation begins, the Council would still like to encourage provincials and their councils to reflect on these brief considerations and bring the results of their discussions to the meeting.

On 24 August 2011 the Titus Brandsma Media Center, Manila, and the Center for Social and Pastoral Communications (the media ministries of the Order of Carmelites in the Philippines) held a successful 5th Carmelite Communication Day event. About 60 people attended the event from of religious orders/congregations, schools and media institutions. 

This year the theme focused on “the impact of social medial and network gaming in the formation of youth”. In his presentation, Fr. Stephen Cuyos, O.Carm., pointed out how digital games can be used to proclaim God’s Word. He added “worship and morals can be embedded in the content of the game and games can be an instrument of inculcating friendship, solidarity, team-spirit and other positive values.” He showed the participants that network gaming could be used to evangelize today’s generation. Meanwhile, Mr. E stan Cabigas revealed some figures regarding the landscape of blogging and social networking in the Philippines.

The Titus Brandsma Center, founded in 2006, is a ministry of the Order of Carmelites (O.Carm.) in the Philippines. It serves the Church and the World in the pursuit of truth through Spirituality and Social Communication.

Ernest E. Larkin, O.Carm.

Katie Rock invited me to be part of the project to reclaim the history of the St. Therese (D.C.) chapter of Lay Carmelites. She also suggested this topic. I am delighted to offer this spiritual reflection in the context of the chapter’s history and membership. 

“We members are such a divergent group,” Katie wrote: “we are every kind of Catholic really. Yet we found common ground in Carmel. What is that call?” 

I love the question. I think it is Katie’s question in a special way. She often used her considerable journalistic gifts to paint word pictures of our chapter for the public press or in talks to inquirers. She would seize on the rich variety of our membership and the commonality of the things that brought us together. 

The question of Carmel’s call was asked more frequently in the early days than it is today. I served as director of the chapter in the decade of the’50’s. In those early years Carmel’s Call was the name of the manual of our prayers and practices; it was also the burning question of our identity and our reason for existence. 

We were always trying to figure out what made us different. I suppose that was in order to justify our existence. After all, if we were not different, why should we be a Carmelite and not (“just”) Yo ung Christian Workers? Or why be Carmelites and not Dominicans? It was important to us to distinguish our third order from other lay organizations and from other third orders. We were quite doctrinaire in our convictions. Maybe this was because our chapter was associated with Whitefriars Hall, the major seminary of the First Order, where such theoretical questions were the object of study and surveillance. It was also in the spirit of the times. We like to have neat, boxed-in answers for all our questions. Today in the era of the experimental and the subjective we are more comfortable with individual differences, even in the same organization. 

In accord with the traditions of the Order we identified our spirit as contemplative and Marian. We still do so. This is Carmelite identity. We spent a great deal of time and energy trying to figure out practical ways these ideals could be lived out in lay life. We also gave attention to other Carmelite values like asceticism and the lay apostolate, as the Christian life and the universal call to ministry were called in those days. These things were our priorities, and we were right on as far as Carmelite values are concerned. I do think we could have been more creative in our search for the implementation of these things. We sometimes became a bit legalistic and easily got hung up on the Little Office or the big brown scapular. That was in the spirit of the times. 

With the winds of change in society and in the church in the ‘60’s questions of identity tended to raise more in terms of human experience than ideology. We became more concerned about being good human beings than a particular kind of human being. We went back to basics and our Christian vocation became the focus of our efforts. 

In the process Carmel’s call has broadened out. We have been discovering new values, new aspects of the Carmelite charism, things that were there all along but in an implicit, taken- for- granted way. Some of these values are community and friendship: usually these values are called fraternity today. Our prophetic role is likewise highlighted: we are committed to establishing the kingdom of God on this earth. This puts us in touch with Elijah the prophet, our father and founder. Prayer and solitude and the struggle to allow full play to the Christ life within us are still the priorities in the Carmelite scheme. But today these values are like jewels set in the rich embodiment of Church. We are called to prayer, but also to community and to prophetic word and action. We are called to a full Christian life. 

The whole family of Carmel, women and men, cloistered and active, calced and discalced, first, second and third orders find their places in, the one seamless mantle of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. Each segment specializes in one or other gift, but each mirrors all the gifts, because on the level of spirit it is one order. That at least is the vision of Carmel that we find expressed more and more among play to the Christ life within us are still the priorities in the Carmelite scheme. But today these values are like jewels set in the rich embodiment of Church. We are called to prayer, but also to community and to prophetic word and action. We are called to a full Christian life. The whole family of Carmel, women and men, cloistered and active, calced and discalced, first, second and third orders find their places in, the one seamless mantle of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. Each segment specializes in one or other gift, but each mirrors all the gifts, because on the level of spirit it is one order. That at least is the vision of Carmel that we find expressed more and more among Carmelites of all persuasions in the English speaking world. It flourishes elsewhere too. It is the ecumenical reality of Carmel.

It gives me great pleasure to reflect on all the wonderful lay Carmelites of the last four decades. How many friends we have in heaven today because of our association together in the old Whitefriars Chapel or the big barn of a library! Thank God for all of them. And may Our Lady bring a rich new harvest to Carmel. My prayer for now and the future is the Pauline sentiment borrowed into the old reception ceremony: May God who has begun a good work in us bring it to perfection.

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Just over 500 young people from Carmelite communities around the world were among the enormous crowd who attended the World Youth Day in Madrid. The special Carmelite Day on the 17th August was a wonderful occasion with about twenty countries represented.

The day, which was organized by members of the General Curia and the Spanish Provinces, saw the presence of the Prior General, Fr. Fernando Millan Romeral, O.Carm. He invited all our participants to read a special letter he had written for the occasion (see the Order’s website: www.ocarm.org/madrid2011). This Carmelite day consisted of moments of prayer, the presentation of the different groups, discussion groups, workshops on different themes, exhibitions on the work of young people in Iberia (JUCAR), Karit (NGO), vocations, a prayer trail and a place of adoration. The icon of Our Lady of Hope (from the Rome Pilgrimage of Hope in 2010) was enthroned in a special place throughout the day. The next morning it was brought to the Carmelite Monastery at Maravillas in Madrid for a Mass for the Carmelite groups attending the WYD. This was indeed a Carmelite event, presided over by the Prior General and ending with a personal vocation witness by a young enclosed Carmelite sister of the Maravillas monastery, Sr. Brunilda de la Santisima Trinidad.

The icon of Our Lady of Hope will now travel throughout the Iberian peninsula in the coming year as a follow-up to the great success of the Madrid event. All are now looking forward to the WYD in Rio de Janeiro in 2013.